Technology has provided us with conveniences our ancestors never dreamed of. The fact that I can type this article up and then easily share it with you via a few taps on a keyboard is but one example of how evolved our world has truly become.

The convenience of modern day banking services, electronic payments, and computing have also given rise to digital currency usage allowing goods and services to be consumed quicker and easier than ever.

While physical cash is still most often used in smaller day to day transactions, currency proxies like checks, credit cards, debit cards, and electronic ACH transfers constitute the vast majority of payment method transaction volumes today.

All this said, technological conveniences do come with drawbacks that our ancestors never had to worry about.

We now live in a world with unprecedented and unfathomable negative interest rates. We continue to have “mark to model” accounting gimmicks being used by the biggest, possibly insolvent, global commercial banks. Our governments consistently rig their numbers to give us the appearance of normalcy and growth. The Federal Reserve will soon owe $20 trillion in Federal debt. It also has roughly $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities (items it has promised but not saved for). This and other structural issues in the financial system will eventually come to a new and bigger crisis crescendo.

Perhaps some of the troubles aforementioned are why we now have supranational bank bail-In laws on the books in the largest 20 countries of the world (“USA, USA, USA!” is indeed included).

What does that mean?

The next time we have a 2008-like Lehman moment, bailouts will likely coincide with taking cash out of many if not most of people’s bank accounts in one way or another (via bank account bail-ins or outright currency devaluations).

MONEY FLOW TRACKING

Cash is king for privacy. Aside from serial numbers on Federal Reserve notes, physical bills leave little in terms of trackability. Virtually all other “convenient” payment methods leave vast data trails making them less attractive for privacy advocates.

Ivory Tower establishment spokesmen will continue to argue that cash is the final vestige of tax evaders, drug dealers, human traffickers, terrorists, and the poor unbanked souls who have little to no access to credit. These dregs of society and the threats black markets pose pale in comparison to historic life-threats of disease, war, democide, and accidents. But never mind this point, absolute financial control is the real underlying name of the cashless game. The supposed dirty $100 USD note is simply the latest target of this nonsense.

The usage of private information to wage war against a citizenry is perhaps why Germans, who last century suffered under Weimar, Nazi, and Stasi regimes respectively, still use cash in about 80% of their transactions today. Not because German citizens are criminals, but because generally as a people they loathe debt.

Germans also cite that using cash helps them keep constraints on their monthly budgets. Some even argue cash usage should be a constitutional right. It appears Germans know all too well that with rogue political regimes, information is indeed power.

Remember too, in your day to day transactions, that the usage of cash also helps one deliver 100% of a payment to whom you are transacting with. By using cash you disallow the overgrown financial sector from profiting approximately 2-3% in merchant fees from each transaction. For instance, instead of $97 USD on a credit card going to your wife’s hairdresser, that skilled service worker can recoup $100 USD with a payment in cash instead.

CAREFUL WHEN USING CASH IN LARGE SUMS

Cash transactions of $10,000 USD or more within the United States may eventually result in authorities knocking at your door. The usage or structuring of multiple large cash payments, deposits, or even withdrawals will also put you under anti-money laundering regulations. Even some suspicious transactions totaling $5,000 USD can culminate in a suspicious activity report being filed by someone at a bank, casino, coin shop, etc.

To an IRS agent, the admittance of your usage of cash in many of your day to day transactions will make you more likely to be deemed a potential tax evader. The IRS essentially wants proof of record for all things, to verify that the funds you have used have indeed been taxed per the statues they have created.

My suggestion is to simply learn the game they are playing and attempt to stay abreast of their ever-changing rules.

To me, it is common sense to have some physical cash stored in a safe place outside of the banking system. Perhaps enough to cover about three months of household expenses. For example, if your household costs $3,000 USD a month to run I would suggest having near $10,000 cash somewhere safe and outside the banking system.

That said, don’t go into your bank and demand $10k in cash. That raises suspicion and banks don’t like that behavior because they skim on highly leveraged fractional reserve model (they never have enough cash to cover customer deposits).

To smoothly withdraw $10k in cash from your checking account, simply make a regular habit of visiting your ATM. Make cash withdrawals on the regular to acquire your three months of cash for living expenses. Doing this, you won’t look like a crazy person to your bank tellers and you won’t have to stand in block-long-lines when there is an unexpected “bank holiday”.

FATCA - Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act

This relatively new IRS statute requires that foreign financial institutions and certain other non-financial foreign entities report on the foreign assets held by their U.S. account holders or be subject to withholding on withholdable payments.

FATCA also requires U.S. citizens to self-report, depending on the value, their foreign financial accounts and foreign assets.

So essentially, if a U.S. citizen goes to another country and opens up a bank account (that is if the foreign bank is even willing to do so given this new financial regulation burden) you must inform the IRS that you indeed have this bank account, every tax year in which you do.

Below are two important exclusions from the IRS’ FATCA form that you should know about:

At Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP), we offer both services to our clients, including Americans. You can learn more about our fully insured non-bank vaulting services by clicking here.

OFFHORE IRAs (International Individual Retirement Account)

With former President Obama’s announcement of the U.S. government’s myRA program, it is understandable why so many Americans want to get their savings out of the United States.

SWP has partnered with New Direction IRA to offer American investors the opportunity to purchase and store precious metals held in their self-directed IRAs offshore. You can benefit from all the advantages of holding precious metals in your self-directed IRA and the peace of mind that comes with storing your assets in the safest offshore jurisdiction in the Western Hemisphere, the Cayman Islands.

How Offshore Precious Metal IRAs Work

STEP 1: OPEN AND FUND YOUR IRA ACCOUNT

Open your account with New Direction IRA, America’s leading self-directed IRA administrator. Rollover, transfer and/or contribute funds into your account. The account needs to be funded before New Direction IRA can start the precious metals purchase transaction.

As part of the account opening process, you will be asked to elect a precious metals dealer and depository. You can elect SWP as both your precious metals dealer and depository; we will sell you the precious metals and store them securely in our Cayman Islands vault. If you have existing IRA precious metals currently stored with another depository, we can assist you with the transfer.

Below is a comprehensive list of bullion products that are IRA eligible:

Gold

American Gold Eagle bullion coins

American Gold Eagle proof coins

Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coins

Austrian Gold Philharmonic coins

Australian Kangaroo/Nugget coins

Chinese Gold Panda coins

American Gold Buffalo uncirculated coins (proofs not allowed)

Gold bars and rounds produced by a NYMEX or COMEX-approved refiner or national government mint, meeting minimum fineness requirements

Silver

American Silver Eagle bullion coins

American Silver Eagle proof coins

Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins

Austrian Silver Philharmonic coins

Australian Silver Kookaburra coins

Chinese Silver Panda coins

Mexican Libertad coins

Silver bars and rounds produced by a NYMEX or COMEX-approved refiner or national government mint, meeting minimum fineness requirements

Platinum

American Platinum Eagle coins

American Platinum Eagle proof coins

Canadian Platinum Maple Leaf coins

Isle of Man Noble coins

Australian Platinum Koala coins

Platinum bars and rounds produced by a NYMEX or COMEX-approved refiner or national government mint, meeting minimum fineness requirements

Palladium

Canadian Palladium Maple Leaf coins

Palladium bars and rounds produced by a NYMEX or COMEX-approved refiner or national government mint, meeting minimum fineness requirements

CONCLUSION

Given the trajectory and trends of the economic and political climate in the United States and abroad, the ongoing 21st century war on cash, privacy, and savings is only in its early stages. Under the pretext of fighting crime, tax evasion, and financial crisis the powers that be will engage in all forms of creative ways to further invade citizen’s rights, savings, and privacy.

My recommendation is to get ahead of the curve and outside of the closing gates before it becomes too late.

Author’s Disclaimer:

I am a United States citizen. Although I hold a B.A. degree in finance, I am not a tax nor financial advisor. You are responsible to perform your own due diligence and ultimately for the choices you make. What I wrote about above pertains specifically to U.S. citizens, but many of my suggestions are applicable to those seeking privacy and the right to save their wealth safely virtually anywhere in the world. What you do with your capital is your decision alone.

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James Anderson is an industry professional and has worked with precious metals directly for the last decade, notably for industry leaders JMBullion and GoldSilver.com. His professional mantra is to help individuals prudently preserve purchasing power through safely acquiring physical precious metals for the long term.